Senate panel postpones vote on Bolton amid new allegations

John Bolton appears before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Capitol Hill Monday, April 11, 2005, on his nomination to be ambassador to the United Nations.

AP Photo WASHINGTON -- President Bush's choice for United Nations ambassador received a serious setback Tuesday when the Senate Foreign Relations Committee agreed to delay a vote on his nomination to investigate fresh allegations of improper conduct.

The decision came after Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, shocked his fellow Republicans by saying he wanted more time to study the charges against John Bolton, the State Department's top arms-control official.

The nomination would have been blocked from reaching the full Senate by a 9-9 vote if Voinovich had joined the Democrats in opposing Bolton. All 10 Republicans on the committee had been expected to vote for Bolton, an outspoken critic of the United Nations and a past proponent of go-it-alone U.S. foreign policy.

Voinovich's objection took the wind out of a forceful effort by the chairman, Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., to overrule Democrats' demands for more time and hold a vote.

It also provided Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., with an opening in which to state his own reservations about a quick vote.

Lugar then agreed to put off the vote until after the Senate returns from a recess next month.

In arguing for a delay, the Democrats said they had received new allegations of improper behavior by Bolton since a hearing last week in which a former senior State Department official said Bolton asked him to fire an intelligence analyst who disputed his views on Cuba's biological warfare capabilities.